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Had some EI Rosewood hanging around for a couple of years and decided tonight to run it through the Performax drum sander. Now I have sanded Rosewood before and I know one of the inherint characteristics is its resin which gums up paper quickly but this stuff I have now is unbelievable.

Sander had a rough time just scratching the surface and that was 60 grit. Have to remove around .05 so started with 100 but when that gummed up quickly, went to 80 and then to 60. It destroyed all three belts with resin. Tried washing it down with some lacquer thinner and then sanding - but its like trying to sand petrified wood.

Went to the cabinet scraper and it seemed to dull the scraper after 5 minutes of elbow greese and I have a long way to go yet.

Any ideas???

Try sanding across the grain. Sometimes that helps.

You might also try taking a lighter pass.

Brock Poling38621.0407986111

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Maybe try taking it down with a router.. I believe Bruce was working with a router set up in a jig that let him use it like a thickness planer.

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A lite pass with a Wagner Safe-T-Planer? It might work if you have one.

I'd definetely look at Bruce's router set up, it looks to be taylor made for this kind of problem. I've got a jet 16-32 sander but still use the safety planer for the major hogging off of wood and only use the sander for the final clean-up. But I intend to make one of Bruces little rigs and give that a try. You could probably knock one up out of workshop scrap.

Colin

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80 grit, light passes on a diagonal, high feed speed. Final passes with the grain also light.
Works for me.

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Hey Rich,
This very problem is one of the reasons why my home made thickness sander gets more use than my Industrial one. When you are sanding difficult wood three things seem to matter...drum speed, feed rate and lighter/heavier passes. For me the feed rate is very important as it may vary on the same peice of wood. I like to feed it through by hand as that allows me to sort of feel what is going on. If you can find a way to set your thickness sander up to control these three things you will find that you can sand just about anything without too much trouble.

Where is Bruce's jig? I didn't see it in the jigs section.

Is Bruce's jig superior to a Wagner?

I would use a faster feed rate with lighter passes and run it through cross grain. I have a dual drum sander and use 60 and 80 grip paper

When I first got my Performax 16-32 I went through belts like crazy! When ever I did Indian or Coco, they were shot!
Two things I did that helped and both have already been mentioned so this is just to drive it home, lighter, faster passes. I use 60 grit, set the belt speed on full, and go one 1/4 or less turn per pass.
After I get to with in .010 of my final thickness I change over to 80 grit and finish it up.

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I'd use the Wagner Safe-T-Planer to get it down, then just 1 or 2 passes on the drum sander, then a cabinet scraper. At the school where Robbie teaches, we have 14 students who pass there Rosewood through the drum sander, but we already used the Wagner on them, and we can still get 14 backs and sides done on the drum sander!
Tracy

Rich,
I've sanded a lot rosewood over the years and know exactly what you're talking about.
Here's what you need to do:
If the wood is rough, start with 60 grit and make a light pass. Now here's the key: When you sand, tilt the wood or feed it in at an angle. This will save you a TON of time cleaning belts or watching the smoke roll out of your sander. If you get a lot of resin build up, feed a piece of plexiglass through your sander and that helps remove the resins. The key to it all is make light passes and insert to wood at an angle.
Hope this helps.
Steve

Ditto to the advice: angled as much as possible(sideways is best!), and light, and feed at full tilt. The slower you feed, the longer the drum is in contact with that area, the hoter it gets. with that in mind, flip the piece over after each pass to cut a cool surface. If both are warm to the touch, shut 'er down for a few minutes.

And you do have good, strong dust collection, right? If the dust is allowed to hang around, it will really gum things up quickly.

I even run my spruce through sideways if I can. Really cuts better... My next sander will have a 28" drum....

And 100 on a thickness sander is too fine, even for a final pass. 60, then 80.

Heck, I have a roll of 36 grit for the really nasty ones <bg>

[QUOTE=Colonial Tonwds] If you get a lot of resin build up, feed a piece of plexiglass through your sander and that helps remove the resins.
Steve[/QUOTE]
I haven't heard this suggestion before but will have to try it.

Well you guys have inspired me to try again. Will hit it tonight using your advice and get back to you. I guess my patience ran thin when I was passing the boards through for the 20th time and did not seem to be gaining on it. I may have cranked it down too tight and was running it straight instead of angled. Oh Well - live and learn.   Thanks again

Well you guys were absoutly dead on!!! Took another crack at it only this time feeding at angle and fast belt with 80 grit with minimal friction and I was able to take the sides down to specs - and as quickly as I was progressing with more pressure and ruining 3 belts in the process. Lesson learned

Thanks guys (and gals if any)